I am one of those that has a frequently growling tummy and it is just best for all those involved (with me) that the beast within me (my appetite) is tamed, frequently. I don’t feel naughty with these balls of apricot, nuts and Kellogg’s special K. They are bursting with spice, coconut and pistachio…keep them in the fridge and they will last a few days.

Ingredients to make approximately 18 snack balls

400g of dried apricots

50g Kellogg’s Special K, ground to a coarse powder

45g unsweetened desiccated coconut

45g coarsely ground pistachio

1 tbsp. chia seeds

3 tbsp. coconut milk powder

½ tsp. ground cardamom

A pinch of saffron powder

1 tbsp. cacao nibs

Method

Blitz the apricots and coconut milk powder to a puree

Combine the desiccated coconut, pistachio, Kellogg’s special K, cardamom, saffron powder, cacao nibs and chia seeds in a separate bowl and ensure they are evenly tossed

Now bring together, gradually some of the nut and spice mix with the apricots and form them into a dough

Shape and make 18 evenly sized balls and then you can either chill them I the fridge or consume immediately

I had a lovely Christmas break. If you are reading this and you didn’t then I can relate to you. Things are not always the same.

This year, it was lovely. We saw Santa four times; at the activity farm where we ice skated, made a bear, rode a tractor and saw a real reindeer. We also saw Santa at the children’s theatre, where the performance charmed my child into sitting quietly, eyes widened for the whole lot. We went to the cinema and guess what? I went to the cinema on a separate occasion to watch a grown up, Bollywood movie with a friend. We went to the zoo; it was blustery but we had thepla, smiles and each other. We spent time with treasured family and cherished old friends and revelled in the good times. We ate out most days, even if we were slurping noodles in Camden market or Churro’s in the park and yes we even had muddy fun in the park.
My baby took part in his first nursery school concert and he looked edible, if not too grown up. He assuredly and dramatically rehearsed every day and was totally in his element up until the big day. But I am not disappointed or upset because the reason and experience totally moved me; as he walked onto the lit-up stage, he waved into the darkness of the audience, aimlessly as he didn’t know where I was. As the elves, Santa’s snowmen and donkey’s sang away, he repeatedly whispered to his neighbours and teachers, ‘where’s my mum’…his eyes wandered and so did his mind. As it was his turn to go onto stage, he looked behind; he looked around and still couldn’t see me. It wasn’t until the last five minutes that he finally spotted me and there was a sudden and latent burst of energy. I will take this with me.
I want to share what I learned from this Christmas holiday. That element of fun, that positive energy and gratitude, that high-frequency of love, the time spent with chosen and energising people, that free-spirit and relaxed mind…why should that be confined to Christmas. Why shouldn’t I inject spurts of it into my regular routine…the very simple things and the very simple pleasures? So that’s what I am going to do. And with that, I share a very simple pleasure of a Malaysian inspired recipe, my green beans and soya beans in red sambal.

A little nutty, very luscious and delicately sweet; it makes for a lovely side dish, or is great just with some rice. I have even put into a wrap with a drizzle of yoghurt. The aromas are so lifting in the red sambal, which for me makes the dish. The sambal is a blend of spices, onions and garlic and become gentler as it’s cooked. Add more chillies if you like!

Ingredients
175g green beans
175g soya beans
4 lime leaves, crushed
1 cup of warm water
1 tbsp. tamarind concentrate
2 tbsp. peanut oil
Salt to taste
1 tbsp. chilli oil
2 tbsp. toasted, unsalted peanuts, coarsely ground
For the red sambal paste
2 tsp. soft brown sugar
One large onion, chopped
5-6 cloves of garlic
5 long, dried red chillies soaked
2 tsp. lemongrass paste
1 tsp. minced ginger or galangal
1 tbsp. peanut oil
Method
1. Blitz together the ingredients for the spice paste and then leave it to the side
2. Heat 1 tbsp. peanut oil and add the paste on a very low flame and cook it, stirring to avoid sticking for approximately 5-7 minutes.
3. Now add the tamarind concentrate, chilli oil, lime leaves, salt and peanuts and then fry for another three minutes.
4. Now add the water and simmer for ten minutes.
5. In the meantime cook the edamame beans for three minutes and the green beans for 4-7 minutes or until barely tender. Drain and refresh them.
6. Combine the red sambal and the green and soya beans together and serve hot.

Two fabulous things happened at the tail end of last week; my husband returned home for a couple of days, after eleven days of business related work in Australia and I found a Riverford fruit and veg box wrapped up and tucked behind my garden gate.

Years ago, when my husband made the switch from his role in the pharmaceutical industry to make a living in the field he is so passionate about (magic) I would cry upon his departure for these clustered long-haul trips. After years of listening to him talk about making dreams manifest and how life is so short and it is not worth spending limited moments of breath and potential smiles doing something one is less than passionate about, there was a juxtaposition of, ‘I want you to LIVE’ and ‘I don’t want to be alone’.

I didn’t like the quiet of the evenings or cooking for one. I didn’t like the ‘filling in’ activities. I didn’t like waking alone or going to sleep with just the telly for company. But look, years on. Who would have thought that I could become accustomed to waving goodbye with a young child on my hip and that the quiet of the evenings would become precious time to prepare for lectures or cookery classes and those textbooks have become me, once again? Years ago I would find solace in those messages, ‘how are you coping on your own’ and now I see ambition and vision through how much courage I have mustered up in recent years. I have even considered spending a few years abroad.

So the contents of the Riverford fruit and veg box this week made me chuckle because they matched my thoughts of more exotic climes and the will to LIVE. Now, I am sure I have gone on, and on enough about how much of an alphonso fan I am but alas we can’t have these in the UK this year but I was tickled by the delivery of a large and firm mango. I spotted red chillies and red onions, salsa? I could have done yes, but I fancied something sensational and explosive. It is how I want to feel you see.

I am taking a deep breath before I tell you this. Macaroons and chaat. OK. Let me explain. These are the two foods that make my limbs turn to jelly with anticipation and heart skipping joy. Heart-leap-frogging. I am a girl that does not need to be gifted shoes, give me macaroons and chaat. And if I haven’t told you before, chaat is Indian street food (vegetarian snack) of inordinate amounts of sensual pleasure. The trickles of tamarind chutney and chilli green lip-smacking chutney heighten a fine balance of sweet, sour, crisp, cool, soft and spicy textures. It pops every sense and leaves anyone and everyone hankering for more, more, more.

But, you know me. I can’t just leave it there. I saw this mango and thought Indo-Thai would be absolutely perfumery delight. The mango gives sweet-sharp balance to the aniseed Thai basil. I have used coconut and peanuts for the salty and nutty elements too. This is not an understated dish (I have stressed that enough haven’t I?) it is a full show. New potatoes ensure that you get a soft bite without soggy mess that an ordinary potato can bring and you can get the puffed rice from most supermarkets or Indian grocers. I have used chopped mint and coriander too for a real herby feel. I would definitely recommend getting hold of the chaat masala that is made of peppery black salt, it lifts the dish to a whole new level. Just try it.

Do you relate to any of these glimpses of my life that has been on replay?

I would walk slowly from the car to the on-site restaurant at work, dodging people and other obstacles because I was flicking through the long list of emails and email conversations whilst sighing and swearing. I was deep in thought about the problems, sorry ‘challenges’ that had occurred over evening to morning and gritting my teeth at the day ahead, full of poor shovelling. Great. I’d open the porridge pot and hope it wouldn’t be a thick sticky mess. I needed fuel to get me through, who knows if I’d get time go eat a decent lunch.

It’s was one of those days today. He didn’t quite want to accept that Thomas is broken and he didn’t want to be put down. Is it safe to make paratha whilst holding him? Probably not. TV? I shouldn’t. ‘Mama let’s go to Gambado’. (Soft play). ‘Mama, lets go to farm’.

After a lot of activity, it’s not easy getting him out. There’s s lot of protesting in the car and as a result of being distracted my car scrapes some bollards. He then falls asleep and wakes, annoyed as heck as I get him home. Can you imagine how the rest of it goes; he then doesn’t want lunch, doesn’t want to sleep, doesn’t want to talk. We have whimpering, cries and over exhausted squeals. I put him in the car and drive until he sleeps. It’s 2.30pm and I’ve had no lunch. I should have eaten porridge this morning.

Porridge. It’s humble. It’s un glamorous. It’s simple. It’s warm. It’s cosy. It’s heats the tummy up, drop by drop. It’s milky and sweet and thick and sleepy. It’s nourishing, cajoling and homely. It does the job. It’s funny how some foods conditioned in our minds to anchor us to certain times, moments or memories. Porridge throws me back to winters before school, that morning radio alarm, where the same song played every single day.

Porridge need not be boring. There’s so many ways to make porridge exciting, not just comforting. Don’t restrict yourself to toppings of fruit, nuts or chocolate. My recipe for spiced papaya and coconut porridge feels evokes memories of holidays in my mind…it’s bright and cheerful for dull days like these, with an aroma of sweet, creamy coconuts and this one has a toasty crunch.

1. Remove the skin and seeds from the papaya and cut it into chunks. Leave a few to the side (for topping the porridge) and put the rest into a non stick pan together with the milk and sides and simmer until the papaya is pulpy. Add the agave nectar and then put the mixture into a food processor. Blitz until its smooth.
2. Pour the milky mixture back into pan and then add the oats. Stir intermittently for 4-5 minutes. In the meantime, toast the almonds until they are golden brown, then leave them to cool.
3. Pour the porridge out, top with almonds and a couple of chunks of papaya and enjoy it immediately.

Did you ever, as a child, storm into the kitchen popping with excitement and surprise belting, ‘mum, dad, there’s an indian on the TV!”

And did they rush towards the TV to witness the novelty themselves? Go on, admit it…even if you are not of indian descent, it was such a rarity and perhaps even quite extraordinary. In those days we didn’t have Bollywood TV channels either, so there was always an absorbing reason for seeing an indian other than Madhur Jaffrey on the the screen.

Oh and do you remember the early days of those unsubdued and colourful Rubicon adverts…I hasten to describe them as ‘exotic’ but yeah..all that singing and dancing and falling, thirst quenching fruits of the almost unknown. Maybe the fruits were rather unknown back then…were Guava, lychees and passion fruits as widely available?

I remember, many years ago, there being a lot of fuss about a shop near my folks that was, allegedly selling exotic ice creams. Imagine. amongst the favours were rose, pistachio, mango and coconut. Even better, I heard that they were flecked with cardamom and cinnamon, even saffron! Well. I never visited so I don’t know if the rumours were true. This was all before the days of these flavours being readily available in supermarkets, but I do remember thinking…why don’t they just make it themselves?

It is with these entertaining memories in mind, that I share wit you my exotic recipe of lychee and coconut yoghurt ice lollies. Easy peasy, just chuck a few ingredients in a bowl, stir and spoon into lolly moulds without eating it all. Perfectly easy and delightful for gorgeous sunny, happy days.

Ingredients for 6-8 lollies

450g coconut yoghurt

2tbsp sugar, or to taste

3quarters of a 450g tin of lychees

Half the syrup from the tin of lychees

2tbsp finely chopped almonds

Method

1. Coarsely blend the lychees and pour them into a pan for heating. Add the syrup and add the sugar. The sugar takes the edge off any sourness in the lychees and you can moderate the amount of sugar you like. Just simmer and stir for a couple of minutes, don’t eat the lychees brown.

2. Let the lychees cool and in the meantime scoop the coconut yoghurt int a bowl and mix in the nuts. When the lychees are cool, mix them.

Featured Posts

Crispy, red pepper and goats cheese bites I had a good day on the Friday just gone. After a week of early starts with the school run and late finishes with work, I took time out on Friday. This doesn’t happen often (in fact it is very rare) despite my husband frequently persuading me about […]

Like this:

Breakfast cookies 2016 was an interesting year wasn’t it. Let’s not get into it, but I think the world outside and most definitely within, in the last year was fraught. But what did I take from it? I learned that perhaps in a world where shouting ‘look at me’ though the wide-open windows of social […]

Like this:

The wild effects of hunger I am one of those that has a frequently growling tummy and it is just best for all those involved (with me) that the beast within me (my appetite) is tamed, frequently. I don’t feel naughty with these balls of apricot, nuts and Kellogg’s special K. They are bursting with […]

Like this:

I like having structure and purpose to my day. I like the feeling of being expended for a worthwhile purpose, one that is driving me towards productivity and something meaningful. I like talking to people and delivering. I want to contribute towards a bigger picture and I want to learn. When I am hungry however, […]

Like this:

Nowadays my weekly menu is devised on bases a little like this; is it something that we can all eat, does it deliver on the ‘rainbow factor’, does it taste good, is it quick to make and can we cook it together? The latter is important because there are repeated demonstrations of my little boy’s […]